Cannabis and Cannabinoids: Pharmacology, Toxicology, and Therapeutic Potential

Cannabis and Cannabinoids: Pharmacology, Toxicology, and Therapeutic Potential, compiled and edited by Dr. Franjo Grotenhermen and Dr. Ethan Russo, is an impressive, entirely evidentiary assessment of the therapeutic potential of Cannabis and Cannabinoids. Perhaps the only assemblage of such breadth and spectrum in it’s class, it is an efficiently definitive reference text for medical the application of marijuana. The academically styled text is well animated by relevant charts and diagrams, making the chapters exceptionally concise and accessible. Suitable for both amateur researchers and those well versed in the pharmacological and psychoactive properties of therapeutic medicine, Cannabis and Cabbananoids is truly an authoritative amalgamation of the medical application of marijuana and its active ingredients.

Before diving in to the medical impact and potentials, the basics of Cannabis are thoroughly dictated, with definitive definitions of life cycle, resin and chemical production, and basic traditional employments, both past and present. The essentials of Cannabinoid chemistry are explained, as well as basic pharmacokinetics and neurological activity with encyclopedic accuracy and style. These first 2 sections thoroughly illuminate the basic biological and pharmacological characteristic definitions of Cannabis, and provide an accurate and current groundwork for understanding their employment in therapeutic administration.

Dr. Grotenhermen decrees in section III’s opening Review of Therepeutic Effects, “To do justice to the scientific evidence with regard to different indications, a hierarchy of therapeutic effects can be devised.” Empirically and scientifically supported and researched treatments are listed as having attained “Established Effect”, followed by three other categories (“Relatively well-confirmed, Less confirmed, Basic-research stage.”) This underlying hierarchy provides a guideline for the organization of the bulk of the content, chapters tapering in length as effects move from a thorough scientific assay for “established” to a brief consideration of potential values and routes of research for “Basic-research stage” treatments. Additionally, section III contains an assessment of medicinal marijuana in practice, represented by an analysis of California’s proposition 215 which resulted in the state-based legality of non-prescription Cannabis medication. This section contains the only significantly outdated information, having been written only 2 years after the laws original approval in 1996. However, the speculations on its growth, regulation and refinement provide an accurate appraisal of the maturation that has accordingly resulted.

Section IV provides a medicinally viable and current analysis of the risk factors and side effects, both confirmed and potential, of varying Cannabinoid treatments. Significant histories of study, as well as details of effect are provided for broader topics such as immune system impact, dependence, respiratory functional risk, and cognitive influence as well as the more specific issues of Cannabinoid ingestion during pregnancy, hormonal alteration, and the long debated effects of cannabis on motor-vehicle control efficacy.

The final sections of the book (V & VI) investigate the medical, non-psychoactive potentials of cannabis, those not currently employed, and speculations of further properties and prospects of the Cannabinoid pharmacology and therapy. The vitamin-rich potentials of root consumption are explored in nutritional employment, as well as the emollient and exfoliating properties of hemp-seed oil are explored in great speculative depth before addressing the legality of hemp products due to their intrinsic relationship with THC. The potential medicinal application of non-THC Cannabinoids such as Cannabinol (CBN), Cannabidol (CBD) in analgesia and anti-psychotic treatment, as well as the Anandamides and their effects on memory and cognition are also discussed to their relative available depths.

A necessary bookshelf companion for those seriously interested in understanding or researching the medical application of cannabis, Dr. Grotenhermen and Dr. Russo’s compilation of scientific research on marijuana provides an accurate and concurrent assay of Cannabis and Cannabinoids, their diverse characteristics and therapeutic potential.